


Torn Pages

by addiction1510



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Child Death, F/F, Gem Egg Hell, I legit have no clue what I'm doing with this, Just to be safe, Miscarriage, Other, Oviposition, Stevenbomb 3.0, alcohol consumption, mentions anyways
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-04-17 17:08:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4674656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/addiction1510/pseuds/addiction1510
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Oh gosh, Pearl, are you okay? Did you overexert yourself on your mission? Did you get hurt? You gem doesn't look cracked… Do you need to sit down? What happened?” Steven rapid-fired his questions, and Pearl winced in pain. Worried, he took a step closer and held out his hand for her to take. With great reluctance, she took his hand and let him lead her to the couch, sitting on it almost heavily, like it was paining her to move. “Pearl?”</p><p>---<br/>No longer canon as of Catch and Release!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The house was quiet, aside from the occasional turn of the page in Steven's new book. Connie had assured him that he would like it since he had actually liked the ending to the Spirit Morph Saga, and so far, she had been right. It had everything. Action, drama, and romance! What more could he have asked for? In his haste, he had even almost tore a page- okay, a he had actually tore it, just a little. Hopefully Connie would understand, and it had been less than half an inch at the very bottom. No words had even been near it, or anything else, and maybe she wouldn't notice? He'd tell her, but that didn't mean she would notice exactly what he meant.

 

With the turning of the next page came sound that alerted him of the warp pad going off, causing the book to be hastily bookmarked so he wouldn't lose his place and set carefully on the bed. He would have thrown the book on it normally, but was scared of causing further damage, and couldn't imagine Connie would have reacted if he had returned a book he had not only tore a part of a page in, but had threw against the wall or floor. After having made sure that the book was stable, he glanced up at the warp pad, seeing Pearl standing atop it. Her head was in her hands, and she looked to be in pain, as if simply standing there was hurting her.

 

“Hey Pearl!” She jerked up quick, her eyes slightly unfocused, before a smile he could easily tell was forced made its way across her features. What was wrong with her? He had never seen Pearl act like this before, and it was almost terrifying to see his normally graceful guardian look so distressed. He was quick to bound over, hoping that he could help her with whatever was causing the distress.

 

“Steven, you scared me. I thought you were going out with Connie today.”

 

“She had tennis practice, so we only got to hang out for a little bit.”

 

“That's unfortunate,” she murmured as she stepped off the circular blue slab towards him, and stumbled on the slight step down. He was quick to put out his arms in case she were to fall, and she waved a hand in front of her, straightening up as her other hand went to her gem.

 

“Oh gosh, Pearl, are you okay? Did you overexert yourself on your mission? Did you get hurt? You gem doesn't look cracked… Do you need to sit down? What happened?” Steven rapid-fired his questions, and Pearl winced in pain. Worried, he took a step closer and held out his hand for her to take. With great reluctance, she took his hand and let him lead her to the couch, sitting on it almost heavily, like it was paining her to move. “Pearl?”

 

“I… I'll be okay, Steven. My gem just hurts, that's all. Nothing major, no cracks, or anything like that. I just feel light headed and nauseous,” she informed him, and gave him a weak smile. Not believing it, he turned and went towards the kitchen with the intent of boiling some water to make tea. Not that Pearl ever drank it whenever someone was to make tea for her, but it calmed her down, and Steven was aware that she needed it. She was obviously downplaying what was wrong because it was him that she was talking to instead of the other gems, and wanted her to feel better. “St-Steven? What are you doing?”

 

“I thought maybe some tea would help!” he chimed, and watched her slump into the couch. Carefully, he got out the teapot and filled it with water, putting it on the stove to boil. He carefully got out a teacup, along with one of her favourite tea bags, and set it beside the cup before glancing at Pearl. A thought crossed his mind, and he couldn't believe he hadn't thought about it a moment ago. Once again the house was silent as the water was heated on the stove, and he carefully filled the cup with it when it got hot enough. He put the tea bag into the cup before pouring the water into it, taking the steeping tea to the couch for Pearl.

 

“Thanks.” She took the cup, holding it delicately, and he couldn't help but beam at her praise.

 

“You're welcome.” He paused, and considered his plan, tongue rolling in his mouth. It would be rude to just lick his hand and touch her gem without consent. Deciding it better to ask than to be rude, he found himself fidgeting. “Hey, uh, Pearl, maybe I can try to make your gem feel better? You said it was hurting, maybe I can fix it!”

 

“Oh, Steven, I don't know… It's not that bad.” Upon seeing the look on his face, she sighed and looked away, fingers woven into an intricate pattern around her cup to keep it steady. She winced, and Steven wondered how bad it was really hurting her if she was outwardly showing pain like this, and in front of him as well. Pearl nodded after a moment more, swallowing as she looked back at Steven. “Go ahead.”

 

Giddy with having been granted permission, he gave his hand a long lick and moved to press it to her gem, before the warp pad went off again. He glanced over, his hand inches from her gem, and Garnet stood where Pearl had not too long ago. Pearl looked away, gripping the cup tight, almost as if it was going to disappear, and Steven wondered if she still felt bad about the Sardonyx incident, even though the two of them had seemed to work it out.

 

“What's going on here? Did Pearl crack her gem? I didn't think her mission was that strenuous.” Garnet asked as she stepped off the warp pad, slowly making her way over to where Pearl was perched on the couch.

 

“No, but she said it was hurting and she almost fell when she was trying to step off the warp pad, so I made her tea to help her relax. I wanted to see if my spit would fix the pain in her gem.” There was a pause, with Pearl barely murmuring an agreement, and Garnet seemed to hesitate to think it over. As Pearl glanced back at him, he smiled and reached over again to put his hand on her gem, before Garnet was there and jerking his arm away, though not enough to hurt or do more than stop him from touching her gem. The fingers on his skin almost seemed to be vibrating, and Steven wondered what was wrong.

 

“Don't do that. You'll burn yourself, because her gem is way too hot. That wouldn't be good for trying to finish reading your book later.” Garnet let go of her light grip on his arm and pressed the back of one hand to Pearl's gem. Pearl seemed to shudder at the touch, but Steven couldn't tell if it was good thing or a bad one. After a moment, she pulled back and carefully straightened up, her expression unreadable, but neutral. Had she seen something? Or felt it? Before he could ask, she started speaking. “Pearl, how have you been feeling lately?”

 

“I-I've been uh… nauseous and light headed,” Pearl groaned, holding the cup close with one hand as the other went to her gem. Steven furrowed his brows, and Garnet straightened up. Her expression was impossible to read, but he had a feeling that it wasn't good. Gems didn’t get sick from what he knew, besides food poisoning, and he was well aware that Pearl wouldn't have eaten anything to have gotten sick from.

 

“How long have you been feeling like this?” Steven watched her hesitate, and wondered if she holding information back. She looked down after a moment, mouth moving as if unsure as t what exactly she was going to say. What exactly was going on with his guardian? Had Pearl caught some kind of gem bug? Was she going to end up corrupted like the rest of the gems in those bubbles in the temple? Fear flooded him, and he gripped the hem of his shirt, wishing that there was something that he could do for Pearl to help her since he couldn't use his healing powers.

 

“S-since a few hours before our last encounter with Peridot. I started feeling sick, and my gem started aching. It got worse after we fused, but I didn't want to say anything. I wanted to just catch her, and figured that maybe I could say something afterwards but...” Garnet seemed to pause, before she clenched her fists tightly. What was going on? Did Garnet know something? The fusion took a deep breath, nice and slow, before turning to Steven.

 

“Steven, I need to go talk to Pearl, alone. You should go finish your book.” He nodded, watching Garnet carefully. Something was up, and they didn't want to tell him. Garnet must have had a vision about what was wrong with Pearl, but what was it? The fusion took the tea from Pearl and set it on the table, then carefully helped the slender gem up. While she was doing that, he took the cup to the kitchen and dumped the contents out, not wanting Pearl to worry about it with something being wrong with her physical form. Something had made her sick, and he wished he could help take care of her and make her feel better like she had when he had been growing up.

 

The next thing he knew, the temple door was sliding shut after Garnet and Pearl's retreat, and he couldn't help but wonder what had just happened and if Pearl would be okay. That had been… Strange. Stranger than usual around here, but he would worry about it more later, once they came out. There was nothing he could do now that the temple door was shut, and he found himself wishing that they would bother to share more of what was going on with him whenever it happened instead of trying to hide it from him.

 

There was something that was obviously wrong with Pearl, and Garnet seemed to be aware of what it was but wasn't intent on sharing it with him right now. They had to, though. If they didn't, he would pester them about it until they did. He was a part of this team too, and they couldn't keep treating him like a child. Steven had seen so much more than any other child on Earth, and had fought dangerous monsters that would have given other kids nightmares. He couldn't imagine them not telling him what was wrong with Pearl because they thought he was too young to know. It was incredibly frustrating.

 

She couldn't be sick, because gems didn't get sick. Her gem hadn't been cracked, so it wasn't that. Even if it had been cracked, then it would have had to be before they had fought Peridot, and it would have been obvious. It wasn't like her gem was hidden like Garnet's, and it would have easily been noticed if she had cracked her gem. What else could it have possibly been though? Was she becoming corrupted? He couldn't imagine having to lose Pearl, especially not because she had been corrupted and there was no way to fix it. Just like the page in Connie's book.

 

Remembering what Garnet had said about him reading, he was once more concerned with picking up on his damaged and borrowed book before he had to return it to his dear friend and training partner. If Connie did end up getting upset about the small tear on page ninety-three, he could always buy her a new one. Steven doubted that she would actually mind, but there was really no telling when it came to her books. She hadn't seemed to like this one too much though, and he couldn't figure out why. He climbed up the steps and grabbed the book, crawling back onto the bed afterwards. Now, where had he been before Pearl had warped in? Ah, right, Terrance had finally admitted his feeling to Joshua after almost two hundred pages...

 


	2. Chapter 2

The moment the door shut behind them, her hands clacked together- not hard, not loud, and nowhere near enough to break delicate gems so needed for life- and her fingers popped, cracked, even, in a wave of ten joints releasing air. She was nervous, angry, and so _jealous_ , but she kept composed for him. For her- she was still upset, still felt used, and the feeling only rung deeper, now. Hurt more. It wasn't their fault, and Pearl didn't mean for this to happen. She couldn't have known. Garnet wasn't even looking at her, but she knew Pearl was going to say something before she did, and she turned, arms out in front of her as if to protect herself.

  


"Don't," she practically growled, and yet nearly yelped. It's unfair, half of her screamed, boiling in anger and rage. All red fury and fire, because her three clutches, they were burned alive- or, maybe boiled is a better term, but it didn't matter how she worded it. They were cooked, never had a chance no matter how hard she tried to keep the heat down. The other half, all blue jealousy and ice, reminded that it wasn't Pearl's fault, and hadn't been her intention. Their moods had matched, just like with the two clutches who had been frozen and black, too cold to have survived. Five twisted and mangled clutches, before they had agreed to stop trying, because there wasn't a moment of hope.

 

Pearl licked her lips nervously, swallowed, and Garnet could see the movement. She felt like she was vibrating, falling apart, but she wasn't glowing, and she was shocked, but proud of herself for it. They've been unfused too much recently for her comfort. She had to stay herself, because they couldn't handle this alone, and she was struggling, doing so only just. There was a bitter burn in the back of her throat as she swallowed, then forced the acid words out before they can burn her tongue anymore. "You're carrying."

 

The shocked reaction described the moment perfectly, held it in place by a pin. She hadn'tthought Pearl's sick skin could get any paler, but every ounce of colour has left her face, and she was shaking. Her hands gripped her outfit, tight, and twisting the material. Her sash, specifically. In front of her stomach, protecting, and nervous. Another swallow from the movements of her throat, and she twisted to look away. Grasping for words, and she knew what she was going to say, and had an answered prepared before her words left her lips.

 

"H-how? I haven't... There wasn't..." A deep, shaky breath, and she watched her quiver. Fear, maybe? Was she scared that she's going to hurt her? Part of her- the distant, red, roaring part- was happy at this revelation, and a quiet _good_ bounded through her skull. The closer, blue, calming part remarked that no, it wasn't good, mixed with an emotion she couldn't quite name, but bit her tongue and mind. She agreed that it wasn't good, as she would never physically hurt Pearl, on purpose. Pearl spoke up again, her words soft, uneasy, scared, and needy, and so many other broken words to match her battle tore body. "Will they make it?"

 

Her jaw clenched, biting back painful remarks, before she settled on speaking her practised answer. "When we fused, the second time for the tower," _the time you used me_ , hung unspoken but understood, "our emotions mixed well enough for a viable connection. They're mine, and... I can't see far enough to let you know if any hatch."

 

She could see two black geodes, small and disgusting, in the future. Every future. At least two, broken and completely twisted and wrong. The clutch size varied, larger and smaller, but at least two twisted geodes always made it, in place of her own colours in some cases. The larger ones could smash the only rubies and sapphires in the clutch, and she gathered there was at least seventeen total developing inside Pearl at that moment. The number was big, and dug at her wrong, because Pearl was too small for that many. Seventeen would make her poof- to use Steven's term- and she hoped there would be less, because there would be no way that they could handle having her poof, along with seventeen carrierless geodes.

 

Garnet couldn't see more than the laying of the clutch, but gathered enough from that for now. There would be geodes, at least two that had been completely decimated by their fusion in the box because of Peridot, but the rest varied. Some of the smaller geodes could be crushed and absorbed by the bigger ones, while some of the bigger ones could stop developing and be absorbed as well. It was a toss up that made her feel almost sick. There was so much variation to the clutch, and she couldn't help feeling her head swim. Most of them were always pearls, and she wondered, for a moment, if the black and destroyed ones would have been pearls as well.

 

What could she even begin to say to tell Pearl of the dead geodes? That they had saved their own lives and ended up losing two of the geodes they hadn't even known existed yet? There was a future she saw, where each and every one of them were black masses, but it was a small possibility, and she tried her best not to think about that one. She couldn't tell Pearl that all of her efforts over the next few months could be for naught. She could remember the blue part seeing the same fate for all of their clutches and how it had destroyed her halves, and refused to even tell the gem before her that such a fate could have a chance of coming true.

 

“So… I… I'm carrying your geodes?” Pearl asked hesitantly, her hands gripping at the sash tighter. Oh, yes, she was definitely scared of what Garnet was going to do. She wouldn't hurt the other, because Pearl was her teammate and her friend, even if she had hurt her. A sigh escaped her, and she nodded weakly. There was no point in trying to get around it, and she felt herself deflating, as if all the nervous and angry energy had been wiped out of her with noticing that Pearl was actually scared of her, terrified even. She had to try to fix this.

 

“Yes. I can see at least two that don't make it, but that's nothing that we can help now.” She watched Pearl sag, choking back a nervous swallow, before her arms wrapped around her stomach, gripping each other. She had doubled over slightly, her eyes cast to the side, and Garnet wondered if Pearl thought that she was disappointed in her. “It's not your fault. They lost every chance of surviving when we fused again.” She paused for a moment, ran her tongue over her lips nervously, and then sighed. “Pearl, I'm not going to hurt you. You know that, right?”

 

Pearl looked to her, tears in her eyes, and Garnet felt uneasy then. She wanted to hug her, but was unsure about whether or not it would be the right move. It didn't feel right to hug the other, because it still stung to know she had used her, and she could only think how wrong it was that she had used her, and they had created life through it. Life that could actually have a chance, unlike every clutch her halves had carried. She straightened up with a swallow, arms still clutched loosely before her stomach. Now that Garnet thought about it, there was even a little bit of a swell to it. “I… I know. I just… I thought it'd be my fault. Pearls aren't supposed to carry anyways, I can't imagine that this is going to end well.”

 

“No, Pearl. It's not your fault that they don't make it. Their geode are already corrupted, and we can't save them.” She watched her nod, and sighed. It had to be hard to know that she couldn't save those two, but at least the others would have a chance. She was about to say more to comfort the other when the door opened, revealing the small purple gem that they had taken in all those years ago. She found her gaze drawn to Amethyst, and was sure Pearl was looking to her as well.

 

“Uh… hey guys. What's up?” They shared an awkward glance, and Garnet found herself swallowing the pain in the back of her throat. Amethyst had to know, and it wouldn't be right to hide it from her. She was their friend and it would be wrong to leave her out of it all. Pearl looked away first, her hands gripping her shirt tighter, and Garnet sighed before looking back Amethyst. She looked worried and nervous, chewing on her bottom lip like they were going to scold her. They had to tell her.

 


	3. Chapter 3

It was a couple weeks later that Amethyst found herself sitting on the temple hand, a six pack of beer perched next to her and the third empty bottle in her hand. The other two had crashed to the ground below the moment she finished them, and this one was about to as well, once she downed the last little bit. She'd clean up the glass in the morning, she had decided when the first bottle had slipped from her grip and crashed down below. In a sick way, they were a metaphor for her life, always crashing down in an endless spiral.

 

With a quick gulp, she swallowed down the last bit of the amber coloured liquid in her bottle before it joined the others down below. A whistle pressed out of her lips as it fell, and a cackle escaped her when it shattered. The next one was grabbed without a second thought, and she didn't bother to take off the cap. Instead, she bit the top off the neck of the bottle, spilling a bit of the foul-smelling liquid onto her shirt.

 

“Just fucking great,” she growled, tugging at the wet piece of fabric. “I'm going to need to change this. Pearl will end up smelling it if I don't, and I don't need another lecture.”

 

A scowl presented itself, and the bottle was downed and tossed without another thought. At this rate, she'd have to go and buy more. Or steal more. She hadn't stolen much alcohol since Steven had been born, but it had always been easy. Simply shapeshifting a pocket around it, and then pulling it out once she was out of the store. Easy, but against the morals she had taken up when she had agreed to be one of the four guardians for Steven.

 

Thinking about him made her stomach turn. He was so wonderful and bright, and this was the first time she had really been binge drinking since he had been born. There might have been once, right after he came into the world, that she had thought about it, but had promised Rose to act better, for him. She would admit there had been times that she had a drink every now and again, a beer or a couple shots, but never enough to get her drunk. Not until now.

 

She had been hoping the weeks would be better, but nothing could ease the tension in the house. Pearl had been getting sick lately, throwing up easily at the slightest provocations to her sense of smell. Once, she had bought a new tea that Vidalia had suggested to help her stomach, but the simple smell of the steeping tea had sent Pearl running.

 

Not that it was something Steven was aware of. He knew something was wrong with Pearl, but for some reason, the other two were against telling him right now. Amethyst couldn't be sure why, but they didn't want to tell him of the geodes developing inside Pearl. Garnet wouldn't talk about it at all, no matter how many questions she asked, and Pearl was reluctant to even acknowledge that she had another few lives growing within her. Amethyst herself wasn't even aware of the specifics, or how they were conceived, and yet, she just had to choke it down.

 

The next bottle was grabbed and the top bit off at the thought, before it was chugged like her life depended on the liquid inside the glass. Before she got halfway through it, a sound behind her signified that the warp pad was going off. She jerked around quickly, knowing that Steven was at Greg's for the night, to see Garnet stepping off the circular slab. Though Amethyst couldn't see her gaze, she could feel her eyes on the bottle in her hand and the nearly empty box next to her. With a scowl, Amethyst turned back to the sea and took a swig. She wasn't in the mood to be judged, or get a lecture.

 

Expecting the other to start in right away, she was shocked that the silence hung between them. Alright, she could do this. If that's how Garnet wanted it, silently judging her, she wouldn't stop her. All she wanted to do was finish off her last two bottles, then she'd leave the fusion alone and let her have the hand to herself. She took another swig, not wanting to down the bottle and seem like she was trying to leave, when Garnet came over and sat beside her. Neither said a word, though Amethyst was shocked. She had been expecting her to stare condescingly, leaving her to swallow the other bottle whole and pick up the glass before she left. Instead, Garnet let out a soft sigh that spoke volumes.

 

“What's up, G?” Amethyst asked after a moment, furrowing her brows as she stared at the other. Garnet was silent for a moment, before reaching up and grabbing her glasses. They vanished in the next instant, showing tired eyes well beyond her years. Feeling the air get tense, Amethyst prepared to take another drink of her beer, when Garnet looked to her and nodded to the drink in her hand.

 

“Let me have a drink.” Wordlessly, she hadn't over the broken necked bottle, watching as Garnet rose it to her lips and took a drink of the beer. If she had known that Garnet was going to be joining her, she would have gotten more, but she couldn't remember a time in her life that the gem before her had ever drank anything slightly alcoholic, let alone demanded a drink of her beer. Maybe she would have popped the bottle cap off, instead of biting it, and she wouldn't have downed the others so fast as well. The broken bottle was forced back in her direction, and she took it wordlessly, barely hearing Garnet. “Thanks.”

 

“No probs, Garnet.” Another drink of the liquid, and she realised that the bottle was empty. Damn. She let it go, watching it crash to the pile of broken glass down below without a second thought on the matter, before grabbing the last one. She looked to Garnet and sighed, offering the new beer to the fusion. She could get more later, after she got rid of the box and cleaned up _some_ of the glass at least. Garnet took the bottle and popped the cap off expertly, taking a drink before passing it back to Amethyst.

 

Sensing a pattern, Amethyst took her turn with the bottle before passing it back to the other gem. It was silent, the air still and tense as they drank, but Garnet didn't say a word and Amethyst didn't bother breaking the silence. She wouldn't do it first, she refused. When Garnet took the last drink of the bottle, Amethyst watched her let it go to the ground below, silently shocked that Garnet had joined in her act of littering. For a few brief seconds, she prepared to stand, but stopped when a cool gemmed hand came to rest on her shoulder.

 

“Don't go yet. I want to talk to you.” She settled back down, glancing to her leader and friend. What was it that Garnet wanted to talk about? Was she finally going to answer some of her questions after two weeks? She remembered how they had both disregarded her when they had first told her, and felt the familiar bubble of rage start to swell.

 

“Alright. What do you want to talk about?” she asked as calmly as she could, glancing to the taller gem. Garnet looked tired when she met her eyes, more tired than she had ever seen a gem look. It sort of scared her, to think of how this entire ordeal was affecting the fusion. They hadn't even told Steven yet, but Garnet looked as if it had been wearing on her for years now instead of a couple weeks. Had she came apart again, and wanted to confide it in Amethyst?

 

“Look, I know the past few weeks have been… _Tense_ \--”

 

“You could say that,” she snorted, but it was ignored.

 

“--but you can understand that we're trying to come to terms with it, can't you? I know you have questions and we haven't answered them, but it's not something I want to discuss. I don't want to tell Steven. I wouldn't, if that was an option, but the further along Pearl gets and the further along they develop… There's no denying that they're going to make it. Some of them will, at least, and we can't hide them from Steven once they hatch.” Garnet took a deep breath- maybe to calm herself? Was G really stressing this much over this?- turning away from the younger gem and staring out over the ocean. “I'll answer some of your questions now, alright?”

 

Amethyst paused to mull over the millions of questions buzzing around inside her head, each and every one begging to be the first one to be asked and answered, but she had to start off small. She couldn't push Garnet out of her comfort zone already. “Alright... First question then: when are we telling Steven?”

 

“We?”

 

“We.”

 

A small pause, for Garnet to mull this over, before she continued: “Next week. It'll take another five months, and we need that time to prepare. His help will be greatly appreciated every step of the way. That, and if we don't tell him within the month, he's likely to get mad at us for hiding it for this long.”

 

“Six months? Really?”

 

“Really. Right now, the geodes aren't much bigger than dimes. Pearl is starting to swell, yes, but only because she's so thin and there are so many. By the end of it, the biggest ones will be a little bigger than our gems.” She paused to take this in, imagining Pearl having to push out gems. The next question came out without another thought on what she should say.

 

“How many are there?”

 

Another pause, pregnant and invading the air with tense silence, before Garnet slumped and rubbed her temples with one hand. “Seventeen at most, but Pearl will poof with seventeen. At least twelve, if the bigger ones crush the smaller geodes. So, somewhere between seventeen and twelve. Two of them are... For lack of a better word, they're corrupted. Damaged. When we fused to get out of the box, there was a chemical imbalance, and it ruined them. They never had a chance.”

 

“Does Pearl know?”

 

“No. I haven't told her.”  
  
“Why not?” Garnet's eyes sunk at her question, drooping down and staring at the ground so low below as if it was rushing up at them.

 

“Because I don't want to her to freak out and try to prevent what can't be. When I... When we were separate parts, they had a few clutches, but their elemental influences destroyed any chances they had. No matter how hard they tried to stop it, not a single geode made it out of them safely. Each time, they would do their best, but one little slip up, and they were all gone. By the fifth time, they gave up. Trying only made it worse, and I don't want Pearl to lose more because she was stressing over the two that won't make it.”

 

“What are you going to tell her when she lays them?”

 

“I haven't decided yet.” Amethyst paused again this time, letting the information soak in again. It was admittedly a lot to take in at once, and she hadn't even got to the harder questions yet. The next question weighed heavily in her chest, filling her up with uncertainty, worry, and what-ifs. But she had to know. She had to. It wasn't fair for them not to tell her, because it wasn't something she had ever learned, and she had to know. It was eating her up inside, and she couldn't stand not to know for a moment more.

 

“Garnet, how were they conceived?” A low whistle of air pushed between Garnet's teeth and she looked to Amethyst, searching her face for any sign of mischief she was sure. When none was found in her innocent and wondering expression, Garnet sighed and looked up.

 

“That is a longer answer. You sure you want to hear it? We'll be up here all night.”

 

“I'm sure,” she mumbled, almost uncertainly, and Garnet gave her the same smile she had years ago, when she had been teaching her about all the Human Things, and she was just as ignorant then as now. Once again she was nothing but the lost kindergarten runt, and Garnet was one of her teachers.

 

“Alright. Then I'll explain. Listen close, because I'm not repeating it.” She was quick to nod, because she wanted to know so desperately, had wanted to know for weeks, and it was eating her up inside.

 

“Alright. I'm listening.” And listen she did, long into the night. The broken bottles down on the sand below were forgotten until morning, lost in the moment of innocence Amethyst thought she no longer had. All of her attention went to the fusion, asking questions, because she needed answers, and Garnet was there to provide them. To once again teach her, like she had years ago, before any of Steven's close relatives were even a thought in the cosmos above.


End file.
